Love makes blind
by anmani
Summary: Greg and Nick has a simple crime scene to process, but things doesn't always turn out as promised.


Disclaimer: The characters of CSI belong to CBS and I'm only doing this for fun. No money is involved in this posting.

A/N: I am a Nick and Greg slasher. If you don't like that kind of thinking consider yourself warned. English (the UK version) is my second language, so any grammatical errors are simply lack of knowledge on my side.

Nick had been paired up with Greg for the night's case of 'left in the desert like trash'. It was the third time that he had Greg with him on a case and he enjoyed the energy-ball for company. Though he had to admit that Greg had become more subdued after the explosion, but he was still a lot more fun than any of the others.

They had nearly an hours drive to the crime scene and Greg came armed with plenty of hot coffee and weird CD's. Since he was driving he had the final say on the choice of music, but tonight he let Greg educate him on Black Sabbath all the way. He never had to say much around Greg, the younger man always had a surplus of words and he liked to be on the receiving end.

The scene was relatively simple to process; tire-tracks led all the way to the body of an Asian woman in her early 50's, who had been stabbed to death. No murder weapon and no other evidence than the body and the tire-tracks. It took them longer than normal, because he was letting Greg process everything while he supervised.

"Is that it?" The disappointment in Greg's voice carried clearly through the desert night.

"It looks like it. We need to identify her to find the original scene and suspects for that matter. It's not like there's witnesses to be found out here." He didn't mean to sound so educational, but it didn't seem to bother Greg at all.

"Obviously somebody missed the sign about not throwing trash in the desert." Greg said as he put on his goofy smile.

"Maybe they forgot to put it in Chinese." His smile mirrored Greg's. For outsiders that kind of humor often seemed offensive, but he needed it to take the edge off. It wasn't 'them', but him who had to go through human remains and solve the crime behind another meaningless death.

"Not all Asians know Mandarin. Besides you don't know if she is Chinese." Greg stated solemnly.

"True but…" Greg's laughter drowned out the rest of his sentence.

"You're so easy man!" Greg had doubled over in his laughing fit and he followed him into the releasing laughter.

"We better get back before Grissom thinks that we have eloped." He wasn't sure where those words came from, but he was still a bit dazed from laughing.

"Well if you want to elope Nick, dragging me out to a body in the desert isn't exactly considered romantic." A giggling Greg said.

As he fought down his blush he tried to find the right words to take Greg's mind of the word 'elope'.

"Eh… I think… I didn't… I mean… Shit." He picked up his kit and marched of towards the truck. Greg followed him and didn't take the subject any further.

A sudden gust of wind blew some sand into his eyes and he instantly reached up to rub his eyes forgetting that he was still wearing his examination gloves.

"Ah shit, shit, shit!" The pain in his eyes was all consuming and he kept rubbing them in panic.

"Hey are you okay man?" Greg's concerned voice was right next to him and he reached out a hand to steady himself. Greg caught him by the elbow.

"Nick relax; or else I can't help you. What happened?" Greg demanded loudly.

"The wind blew something in my eyes and it hurts like hell." He said halfway sobbing through clenched teeth.

"STOP rubbing your eyes!" Greg shouted as his hands returned to relieve the itch.

The wind blew another gust of sand in their direction and Greg ushered him into the driver's seat.

"Sit still. I'll get some saline to rinse your eyes with." Greg went to the back and after rummaging about for what seemed an eternity he got into the passenger seat.

"Are you wearing contacts?" He nodded his answer to Greg, not trusting his voice.

"Okay. Do you trust me to remove them?" Again he nodded and he was so glad that Greg had taken control, because he was completely lost in the stinging pain in his eyes.

Greg pulled him down, so his head now rested in Greg's lab and he tried to maneuver his legs into a comfortable position.

"Nick, I'm gonna start with your right eye. First I'll drip some saline into it and then I'll remove the contact. Okay?" Greg's voice was firm and reassuring and it was just what he needed now that he couldn't see a damn thing.

"Okay." He whispered and tried to focus on something other than the pain. Greg sat to work and he felt the excess of fluid in his right eye. It relieved the pain slightly and then he felt a gentle touch on his eyeball. He struggled hard with him self not to instinctively shrink away from the touch.

"It's okay Nick. Just try to relax. I've got it now." Greg's soothing voice washed over him like a warm blanket.

"Okay that was it. Now I'm gonna do exactly the same with your left eye, okay?"

"Okay." The whisper nearly drowned in a sob of pain.

The fluid relaxed his eye and Greg deftly removed the remaining contact.

"That's it. I'm gonna rinse with some more saline. It'll relax the irritation and then I'll use that green stuff to see if you have any scratches." Greg worked his eyes with great care and he was wondering what had caused such a bad reaction.

"Okay Nick. I've bagged your contacts and maybe we should do the same with your gloves." He had completely forgotten that he was still wearing them, but he was glad that Greg had remembered and had bagged the 'evidence'.

"Good thinking G." He held his hands up enabling Greg to remove the gloves and bag them.

"Have you got your glasses with you?" Greg's voice was so calm, that he could almost ignore the pain and the darkness.

"Hmm they are in my bag." He had regained the control over his voice again.

"Okay. I'll get them once I've tested your eyes for scratches." He felt a different kind of fluid being squirted into his right eye and then Greg forcing the same eye open.

"Eh Nick I don't know if it's just from the contact, but eh… it seems a bit like… there's some pretty bad damage." For the first time Greg's voice had lost its firm reassuring quality.

"Maybe I had something on the glove?" He muttered, suddenly very scared that he was losing his eyesight.

"Maybe, I'll just check the other one." From Greg's sounds and moves he was sure that his findings in the left eye were similar to those of the right eye. He forced himself to stay calm.

"Greg you have to call this in." He knew that they would be missed real soon if they didn't report back in.

"Me! What do I say?" Greg reverted back into the role of the apprentice and for a moment he had no idea how to go from there. A few calming breaths and he started instructing Greg.

"Call in on the radio, since we don't have coverage for the phones out here. You have to report is as 'Officer down'. But make sure they understand what happened and then arrange for someone to meet us at the hospital to pick up the evidence. You are okay to drive to the hospital?" He so desperately needed to see the emotions on Greg's face, but all he got was darkness.

"I've… okay." Greg did as told and arranged for Sara to meet them at the hospital. He moved into the passenger seat when Greg got out to get his glasses from his bag in the back of the Tahoe. He fumbled with the seatbelt and cursed himself for being so reliant on his vision.

He put his glasses on and nothing happened. Everything was still a blurred darkness.

"G. are you sure that's my glasses?" The panic crept back in on him again.

"Yup unless you've got some new ones in the last week or so." Greg turned the key and the engine roared to life. He closed his eyes willing the pain into submission without success.

The ride to the hospital took forever and Greg stopped every now and then to rinse his eyes with more saline. It kept the pain almost at bay, but the panic in him was never really stilled since all he saw was darkness.

"Greggo tell me…" He needed Greg's continuous babble now more than ever and yet he had no idea to what he wanted to know.

Greg got the idea and started talking about a cat he had when he was younger.

"I found this shabby little kitten in an alley one day on the way home from school. He was mostly red with white socks and the tip of his tail was white too. I named him Hydrogen and he could be rather explosive so it was a very fitting name. Like Garfield he got really big and he just loved basking in sunrays leaving his fur all warm to the touch. When he purred it sounded like a well oiled engine and it was really loud."

"My mom thought it was really cool to have ferns in the house, so did he and after he had torn up five of them she gave up and bought some anti-cat plants. You remember those wallpapers, well technically not papers but I think Hessians or something like that, anyways I had that it my room and he literally climbed the walls."

"He wasn't supposed to sleep in my bed, but I would sneak out into the laundry room and get him every night. I just loved to fall asleep with him purring into my ear. I mean he would circle himself like three or four times before he would lay down and then he would purr for I don't know how long, because I always fell asleep before he stopped."

Greg carried on about Hydrogen only stopping when pulling over to rinse his eyes with more saline. It was exactly what he needed; the endless babble to drown out his own fears. By the time they reached the hospital he knew more about Greg's cat than he knew about most people.

He recognized the voices of Sara and Grissom when Greg opened the driver's door, but he had a hard time focusing on the actual words.

"There was a gust of wind that blew something into his eyes and he instinctively scratched them." He figured Greg was answering some question from Grissom.

His door was opened and his nose and ears told him it was Grissom standing next to him.

He felt the change in the Tahoe as Greg got out and it send shivers of oncoming panic through him. Not having Greg close at the moment was for some reason unbearable for him. Grissom was talking to him and the words just didn't make any sense.

It had only been the engine and Greg's voice for an hour and now the world erupted into an abundance of sounds and it was way too much for him to handle.

"Greg? Where are you?" He did his best to make his voice stay calm.

"I'm right here. I just have to hand over the evidence to Sara. You get on the gurney and go on in ahead." Greg's voice came through the open door.

"No!" He croaked.

He barely registered that Grissom supported him out of the Tahoe and on to the gurney; all he heard was Greg talking to Sara about the evidence. Eventually Grissom's voice penetrated the din of the hospital entrance.

"Nicky!" Grissom was practically shouting at him.

"Yes." He more sighed than spoke the word.

"This is Dr. McPherson and he is the leading eye surgeon in the state." Grissom introduced the man on the other side of the gurney to him and a cold slender hand grasped his own in a firm handshake.

"Nick Stokes." He drawled heavily accented.

A hand landed on his thigh and he prayed that it was Greg's. For some unknown reason he craved Greg by his side.

"Okay man, I've handed over the evidence including your contacts. So hopefully we'll know the culprit real soon." He sighed a sigh of relieve.

"Stay!" He reached out to grab hold of Greg.

Greg took his hand and the gurney started moving. The complete loss of control was extremely unnerving and he held onto Greg's hand like it was his last lifeline left to the world. Grissom was talking to him, he was sure of that, but he couldn't really understand.

He squeezed Greg's hand real hard willing him to know that he needed him by his side.

"You need to answer Dr. McPherson." Greg's calm reassuring voice floated into his ears.

He pulled Greg closer.

"I can't make out what they are saying. I can only hear you…" He whispered trembling hard all over. It was not something he really cared to admit, but it was Greg and if any Greg would understand.

"Aha… Nick relax. It's probably just an allergic reaction. Do you want me to answer the doctor?" He nodded gratefully and relaxed his vice-grip on Greg's hand.

"Dr. McPherson, Mr. Stokes is having a problem focusing on your voice. So I'll try to answer the best I can for him." Greg told the doctor what had happened in detail and referred back to him what the doctor said and intended to do. He had no idea what had become of Grissom and he felt awfully guilty about causing so much trouble for everyone.

"Nick is there a history of eye diseases in your family, like cataract?" Greg paused.

"Or do you have any allergies?"

"I've got an aunt and two uncles that have had surgery for cataract, but they were quite old before they got it. My last allergy test didn't show anything, but I don't know how much the test covers." His stomach cramped when the fear of impending blindness washed over him with even greater intensity than earlier.

Greg stroked the back of his hand with his thumb.

"Nick they are gonna run some test and measure the blood pressure in your eyes. The nurse wants to know if you want the blood test done in your right or left arm."

"Whatever works for her. Just as long as you stay with me. I'm scared." His voice dropped to a mere whisper for the last few words.

"I've arranged with Grissom to stay and make sure you are all right. He even gave me my next shift off." He picked up the vague smell of coffee on Greg's breath. The doctor prodded and probed his eyes and he still only saw some dark blurred shadows. The pain remained strong and he desperately needed a time-out.

"Nick, they can't say what's wrong yet. But they can ease the pain."

"That would be nice." He was acutely aware of how strong his accent was, but it didn't matter.

"Even if it means a few days in complete blindness?" Greg's coffee coated voice asked him.

"What, why?" The fear settled even deeper if possible in his guts.

"They'll give a local anesthetic in each eye. It'll make the eye unable to respond to light, so you'll need to wear eye-patches, until the effect wears off."

"Why can't they say what's wrong?" He was at the hospital and they were supposed to have all the answers and not temporary solutions.

"Because your eyes are too irritated. They are running a lot of test and you'll have to come in tomorrow to get the answers." Greg kept talking so calmly.

"I can go home?" The idea of being home and in no pain was the most appealing thing he had heard all night.

"Under supervision. Have you got any decent coffee? This hospital-crap is killing my taste buds." His brain called up the image of Greg wincing at bad coffee and a smile crept across his face.

"I haven't got that ridiculously expensive stuff that you drink, but we'll just get it on the way home." Greg coming home with him felt like the most natural thing ever and perhaps he needed to give that some thought, but that could wait.

"Okay and we could pick up some breakfast, I'm starving."

"No need I shopped before coming in so I'll just make us some tuna salad." The words had barely left his mouth before he remembered that he wouldn't be able to see a damn thing and then just how was he supposed to cut the vegetables for the salad.

"Hmm sounds good to me." Greg said with a voice full of anticipation. The doctor continued to work on his eyes and Greg kept on telling him what was happening.

"Greg, why can I only hear you?" He asked when the doctor had placed the patches on his eyes.

"The doctor says it's kind of like tunnel vision. You're in a really stressed situation and your brain shuts out everything it deems not necessary. It's apparently quite normal."

He was exhausted when they finally left the hospital and he leaned heavily on Greg for support. It was difficult for him to hold his balance and the walk to the car was only the first of many challenges to come in the next few days. When they got in the Tahoe that Sara had left for them, Greg called Grissom and updated him. He had always hated not being in control, but it was almost okay to let Greg run the show.

"Greggo, I don't really know anything about being blind."

"No to worry, I've got a blind aunt, well she's actually my dad's aunt, but I've always called her for my aunt. Anyways I've spend quite a lot of time with her, so I know not to move anything out of place and I also know how much she is able to do. She makes the best pancakes in the world."

"She lost her eyesight in a car crash. She was a secretary for a carpet-manufacturer before and well she lost her job because of the accident, it was before I was even born. But she learned Braille and started to write books especially for the blind. She worked for a school for the blind before she retired." It was nice to hear just Greg and the hum of the engine.

"I've spend so many holidays with her. The really cool thing was that I got to see the world in a whole different way with her. My dad said that we were kindred spirits. As a kid I didn't get it, but she is really curious and she wants to learn everything." He didn't have any trouble picturing Greg and his aunt on the eternal quest for knowledge.

"What time is it and where are we?" Greg had stopped the car and it didn't feel like his street.

"At my favorite coffee pusher. I'm just gonna buy some. Do you want any chocolate?" He shook his head and Greg brushed a hand against his upper arm.

"Do you wanna come with me?" Leaving the safety of the Tahoe was scary, but not having Greg nearby worse, so he nodded and got out.

"Wow superman take it easy." Greg caught him by the elbow to steady him. He had momentarily forgotten how hard it had been to leave the hospital.

"I can't believe that it's so hard just to walk." He muttered and leaned on Greg for support.

"You'll get used to it. Do you wanna borrow my oversize sunglasses?" He didn't have to see Greg's face to know that he was wearing his goofy smile.

"Nah, besides if people wanna stare I won't know it, 'cause I can't see them staring."

"True." He could feel the slight tremble in Greg's body caused by his light laughter.

His nose was attacked full force immediately upon entering the shop that Greg led him into.

"Oh my God. That's like the missing link." He sniffed in deep and tried to categories all the different fragrances hanging in the air.

"Missing link?"

"Hmm you know. It's like that little extra thing that makes you who you are." He had flirted enough with Greg over the years to know exactly how he smelled and there had always been this unidentifiable thing lingering about him.

"Ah like lemons is the underlying scent for CSI's!" Greg sounded like he just had an epiphany.

"Yup."

"Well good afternoon Greg. It's a bit late for you to be out and about." A soft melodic female voice floated through the shop.

"Yeah, but I had to stop by the hospital with my friend here. And after hours on that crap they serve there I'm in desperate need." Greg sounded like he was flirting and he felt a sting of jealousy. He berated himself for that; it wasn't like he had a prerogative on Greg or anything like that.

"Well of course I do. Do you want some chocolate for comfort?" She sang out the question and suddenly he experienced an extreme craving for chocolate.

"Sure, make it the purple box and oh… I'll have the white one too." The last part of Greg's order sounded seductive and he was wondering when he had started to put so much into an order for chocolate. He heard the rustle of boxes and then the whirring sound of a coffee grinder accompanied by an even stronger smell of coffee.

The coffee smell kept his nose busy for the rest of the trip back to his house.

"Greg, do your aunt use knifes?" The nightmare of making his longed for tuna salad had returned, now that he was almost home.

"As in; does she chop veggies?" He wondered when Greg had acquired mind-reading skills and nodded.

"That's not fair Nick. You can't just use body-language around a blind person and then a blind person shouldn't be using body-language like that." Greg let the mock pout shine through his words and for the first time all day he laughed.

"Sorry, but I like to use my body." His voice was intentionally heavy accented and as flirtatious as possible. The words were immediately rewarded with a light twat to his arm.

"She does."

This time he waited for Greg to come round to his side of the Tahoe before he got out. They made it inside without too much trouble, but he had to let Greg unlock the door after having fumbled with his key for a while. It was just a small defeat but it added to his general feeling of helplessness.

"Go make your salad, and I'll brew us some coffee." Greg's voice came from below and he guessed that Greg was taking of his shoes. He toed his own shoes off, not wanting to exhibit his handicap more than necessary.

He entered his kitchen and for a moment he was lost, he had suddenly forgotten where his fridge was. A controlled deep breath helped him refocus and he found the fridge, knowing that the next daunting challenge would be finding the ingredients needed. Greg put on the coffee and let him know at all times exactly where he was and exactly what he was doing.

"That's me all done. Mind if I put on some music?" He had a noisy flashback to the lab and Greg's loud music, for a moment he wondered if Greg had brought any CD's.

"Eh, go ahead, just not too loud. And pour me some coffee first, please." He was fumbling with the lettuce under the tap, trying to rinse it properly.

"What mug?" The question sent his brain into overdrive. He could only recall two distinct mugs but he knew that he owned more than that. It showed him once again just how much he depended on his sight and not his memory.

"Just take one! I can't remember which one I normally use." That was another small defeat he could add to the already growing list.

Greg poured the coffee and handed him the mug before he disappeared out of the kitchen. Seconds later the place roared to life with music and much to his surprise Greg had chosen an old Phil Collins CD.

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight." He sang along while carefully chopping the lettuce. Greg had instructed him shortly on the art of blind knifing skills. It was logic really; use a big blade so you can rest your knuckles against the side of the blade.

Greg's voice joined his own when he reentered the kitchen.

"Just came for some more coffee." Greg's coffee scented words floated to him like music. The presence of Greg was becoming more and more intoxicating and he really needed to figure out why that was. But for the moment slicing the cucumber had a higher priority.

"Can you get some plates and forks for us?" That was something he would normally allow his guests to do.

"Where do you want to eat? Here or in the living room?" At first he wondered why Greg even asked, whenever they hung out at his place they would use the coffee table. Then it occurred to him that he would probably make a mess while eating and that the kitchen floor was easier to clean compared to the carpet in the living room.

"Out here." He sighed deeply hating his situation a little bit more for each of these minor defeats. The sounds of the cupboards and the tableware seemed alien and yet so normal to him. He went over the ingredients in his mind and his heart fell when he came to the hardboiled eggs, he had completely forgotten them.

"Ah man, I forgot the eggs. I'm so sorry G.!"

He felt Greg behind looking over his shoulder and the proximity sent sparks flying through his entire body, this was getting out of control for him.

"You know what? That looks like the most delicious salad I've ever laid eyes on. Besides we've got chocolate for later. Who needs eggs then?" The sweetness of the words combined with the slight bitterness of the coffee attacked his brain in a way he couldn't describe.

"Oh I forgot to ask. What do you want to drink?"

"I think we better go with water. Alcohol would just rob us of our remaining senses." He listened as Greg ran the water into the sink and then to how the sound changed as he put the jug under the tap. Sounds that he normally didn't pay attention to and now they were his only way of knowing what was going on around him. He sat down to eat.

The humiliation of having to touch everything on the table to know where they were became complete when he couldn't remember if he had washed his hands. He jumped up knocking the chair over in his mad dash for the sink.

"Are you alright Nick?" Greg sounded so goddamn worried and he could feel the tears creeping in on him again.

The eye patches made it very uncomfortable to cry and he struggled hard to restrain the tears. Even though he couldn't see his knuckles he knew they were white from his hard grip on the sink. When he didn't answer Greg got up and he felt a hand in the small of his back. It was extremely comforting and he wanted to turn around and disappear into a big bear hug, but he didn't have the guts to do so.

"I couldn't remember if I had washed my hands."

"You did." Greg led him back to his chair, leaving it to himself to pick it up again. With all focus directed to the chair he got it up and sat down again. He got hold of his glass and emptied it in one long drag. When he sat it down he heard Greg refill it.

"How does your aunt know when a glass is full?"

"She holds her thumb over the edge and when it gets wet…"

"What about hot drinks?" He interrupted Greg and stabbed into his plate hoping to get something on his fork.

"Callous thumb. She uses her left thumb for it. All the other fingers she tries to keep as sensitive as possible, since her 'vision' is her fingers." He couldn't really imagine seeing with his fingers. The fork felt heavy and he hoped that his catch would stay on long enough for him to get it to his mouth. The piece of cucumber that he got was a whole lot bigger than expected and he swore under his breath for his own inability.

"Maybe salad was a bad idea." He was struggling to get it on the fork and he had done a lousy job a mixing it together and it didn't taste right.

"Practice makes perfect. I like your salad Nick." Greg was still speaking in that calm reassuring voice and the compliment warmed him deeply. The notion of having a date home for the first time came over him and he most surely needed to give this Greg-thing some thought.

"You've got the majority at nine o'clock." It took him a second or two to realize that Greg was telling him where the rest of his salad was on his plate. When he had hunted down the remains of his salad he felt more exhausted than full and decided that he would stuff himself with the chocolates Greg had bought for them. There was just one more thing to do in the kitchen and he knew that he could just ask Greg to clean up, but he always did that himself.

"G. I… the plates… I… you…" He was at a complete loss for the right thing to say.

"I'll rinse them and put them in the dishwasher okay?" Greg said quietly probably remembering how adamant he could be around the things in his kitchen.

"Thanks. I hate this." He pointed to his eyes and then slumped down in his chair.

"I understand, but I don't mean to do you down or anything. I just wanna help you."

Greg's hand landed on his own on the table and Greg touching him once again sent sparks flying through his body.

"I know, but it just feels like I can't do anything myself." The feeling of defeat mixed with the feeling of falling in love made his voice croak in the weirdest way and the realization of falling in love sent shockwaves through him. He wanted to act on it, but he feared that Greg would take pity on him and he didn't want to finish that thought.

"When… you know. I couldn't take a bath myself for ages and…" Greg never really talked about the explosion and he still felt guilty about not having gone to the hospital until days later, but he had no control over his feelings and he stayed away because he didn't want to upset Greg further.

"So me needing help cleaning up is small stuff." He could barely recognize the small squeaking voice as his own.

"Well it depends on how you see things." Greg paused and got up. "There were some who thought that me being washed by nurses must have been heaven." Greg landed a hand on his shoulder.

"Truth is that none of them was able to do my hair and most of them were so damn careful that I never really felt properly cleaned." Greg's other hand landed on his other shoulder.

He adjusted in the chair and leaned into Greg's gentle massage of his shoulders.

"Is that why you gave up on your hair?" He had wondered about Greg's more subdued style after the explosion.

"Nah. I… eh I wanted to get out of the lab. I mean I had a lot of time in the hospital to think about what I wanted to do with my life and when I came back my hands were shaking and I was so scared that it would be the end for me at the lab." Greg's admission shocked him.

Greg paused both talk and massage, after a few seconds of complete silence he continued.

"How come you didn't come visit me back then?" Greg's warm hands rested on his shoulders and he knew it was time to owe up to his feelings for Greg.

"I was too scared. I couldn't handle it. I mean… what if you were gone?" The last part was barely audible to himself; but Greg heard him judging his reaction.

"I was still there and I needed you." Greg resumed the massage.

"I couldn't handle my own feelings and I didn't want to upset you. I'm sorry." He wanted to ask why a smart California boy needed a dull Texan with a bad accent.

"Nothing could really upset me with the meds they had me on." Greg stated solemnly and intensified the massage.

"I just needed someone who could be easy around me. Cath was so uptight from guilt and Grissom was devoid of feelings as usual. He only sounded worried when he caught me with shaking hands."

"I don't think I could've handled easy." He felt like crying again and it bothered him badly. Greg worked his neck and he could feel the tension ease away for each stroke.

"Hmm, why not?" Greg sounded all innocence and he dreaded Greg's reaction to what he had to tell sometime soon. Once again he needed to call a time out and so he did.

"Should we move into the living room and taste the chocolate you got earlier."

"If it means that I get an answer then yes." He nodded, got up and made his way to his couch.

Greg stayed in the kitchen to clean up and he tried to get a hold of his feelings. There were so many thoughts popping up all the time and several of them would call for some heavy explanations. He cuddled up in one corner with a blanket and waited for Greg.

The sounds from the kitchen told him that Greg was putting on more coffee as well as cleaning up.

"Like I said I was terrified that I had lost you." He stated when he heard Greg coming into the living room. The couch shifted slightly when Greg sat down next to him.

"Lost me?" Greg said as he handed him another mug of coffee.

"Yeah, I thought that I had lost the chance of… you know… you." He felt his cheeks burn as he blushed. Greg didn't move and the fear of unrequited love took hold of him.

"I thought you didn't care… enough." Greg sounded sad.

"I did… I do." All wrapped up in the blanket and holding the coffee mug left him feeling incredibly trapped. Greg took the coffee from him and once again he wondered just how the other man knew. He struggled to remove the blanket and a frustrated scream escaped him when he wasn't able to free himself.

"It wasn't supposed to go like this." He half-screamed and half-sobbed.

Greg put an arm around him and dumped the blanket on the floor.

"Take it easy cowboy." Greg whispered so close to his ear that he could feel the change in humidity on his neck as the words were spoken.

"I'm so so sorry." He sobbed weakly into Greg's t-shirt, cuddling further into the embrace.

"How was 'it' supposed to go?" He could feel the vibrations in Greg's chest as he spoke.

"It should've been nice 'n easy. It should've been painless 'n beautiful and it should've been romantic." He sobbed emphasizing the last word. Greg kissed his scalp and his confidence returned enough for him to put an arm around Greg.

"Yeah well we've been pretty thickheaded so far. So maybe this is the only way for us." Greg's words warmed him through and through.

Every fantasy he had ever had of kissing Greg included staring into those adorable brown eyes. Every fantasy of being with Greg involved looking at the beautiful slender naked body next to his own. Every fantasy of their 'first time' had him in a fantastic romantic mood and him as the seducing one.

"Do you wanna wait till you can see again?" Greg's question quelled the last of his fear of becoming a pity-fuck.

"No, I… want you. But I'm… no genius when it comes to dating." He had never admitted so many things to anyone before, but it just felt right telling Greg the truth.

"Me neither, I can flirt. But dating and sex leaves me pretty nervous." He would never have thought that, but it actually helped his confidence considerably.

He slowly lifted his head up from Greg's chest and suddenly his blindness didn't matter at all. His free hand cupped Greg's chin without hesitation and Greg's shortened breath was so intoxicating that he couldn't hold himself back any longer. When his lips connected with Greg's all his fears lost their vice-grip on him and they completely vanished as Greg parted his lips.

The kiss shot out all other feelings and he felt so unbelievable good that he almost missed the ringing phone. Greg broke away and handed him the phone.

"Stokes." He said reluctantly.

"Grissom. Nicky we found some Chinese specialty on your gloves and contacts. Do you have Greg there?" He handed the phone to Greg without answering his boss; instead he just snuggled closer to Greg.

It seemed to him that Greg was on the phone forever and their kiss long forgotten.

"Hmm, I'll tell him and we'll call you tomorrow after the doctor… Yes bye." Greg finally finished the call.

"Nick, our DB had some Chinese medicine on her and that's what caused it. The effect will wear off in a few days on its own. So you're in the clear." He relocated Greg's mouth and continued the kiss without commenting Grissom's call.

A/N: I'm back. I've moved to my own house and it took up a lot of time. I'm still some weeks from a proper internet connection because of the provider. Sigh. I hate monopoles on phone-services.


End file.
